The Owen Sound Attack are set for another pair of divisional games this weekend, as they look to build off of Wednesday night’s thrilling victory over the Barrie Colts.

Travelling down Highway 6 to the Royal City, the Attack will kick off their weekend set by squaring off against the Guelph Storm at the Sleeman Centre on Friday, Feb. 2.

A 7:30pm start, the game will be the 2nd in less than a week between the sides after the Attack took down Guelph by a score of 2-1 on Saturday, Jan. 27.

That win, Owen Sound’s 1st in the season series between the sides, allowed the Attack to pull closer to the Storm, who sit just three points up in the standings.

Currently situated with a record of 21-19-2-5, good for 49 points, Owen Sound is gaining ground on a Storm team that has 52 points thanks to their 24-19-1-3 mark.

And while the Attack edged out Guelph in the latest meeting, the Ryan Merkley led side still has the edge in the season series, having won four out of the first five games between the teams.

Merkley, a top prospect for this June’s upcoming NHL Entry Draft, leads Guelph with 57 points courtesy of 12 goals and 45 assists through 47 games.

Though Attack continue to be paced by Nick Suzuki, currently 7th in the OHL scoring race thanks to his 24 goals and 39 points, the trip to the Sleeman Centre will be a return to the scene of Aidan Dudas’ bursting onto the national scene after the diminutive forwards’ stellar performance in the CHL/NHL Sherwin-Williams Top Prospect Game.

Held on Thursday, Jan. 25, Dudas was one of the stars of the CHL’s annual event, scoring two highlight reel goals in front of a raucous crowd in Guelph. The Parry Sound native has 46 points in 47 games for the Attack this year, and is second to only Barrie’s Andrei Svechnikov when it comes to goals scored by draft eligible players.

Friday night’s game will be available live on Rogers Local 53, or by listening to Kia of Owen Sound/Terry’s Trailer Service Bear Radio on 560 CFOS.

The "hero" side of Olivier Lafreniere's new Batman-themed mask. Brian Shott/BMFSDesignsLook good, feel good, play good.

Goalies love their masks, and when Attack net-minder Olivier Lafreniere returned from injury he was sporting a colourful new head protector.

He was wearing it on Friday night while backstopping the Attack to a 6-4 win over the Guelph Storm at the Sleeman Centre.

“It turned out marvellous,” the goalie said about the Batman inspired cage following a 2-1 win over the Guelph Storm last Saturday in Owen Sound. “Well I can’t really say MARVEL-llous, since it’s DC characters, but . . . the helmet was clutch for me.”

The mask was designed and painted by Brian Shott of BMFSDesigns. The Batman-themed cage was inspired by Lafreniere’s love of the comic books and superheroes.

“We broke the concept of the mask out with heroes on one side, and villains on the other,” Shott said. “On the chin, Olivier wanted a Batman logo which we tied Olivier’s nickname into.”

Shott, who has only been painting masks for four years, part-time, has extended his client list to include goaltenders from USPORT hockey all the way to European professional leagues.

He says each mask is different, but they normally take between 20 and 30 hours to complete from start to finish.

The top of the mask is a large Attack logo, Shott said he wanted to be visible from a distance, but the backplate he gave Lafreniere full control over.

“That’s usually where the personal stuff goes for goalies, so I just try to tie in all the ideas with the rest of the mask,” said Shott.

Lafreniere’s backplate features a large red maple leaf merged with the Fleur-de-lis, a nod to his heritage, surrounded by personal family mementos.

Shott painted Lafreniere’s mask with the Ottawa 67’s as well. That bucket was Spiderman themed and was the culmination of a lifelong obsession.

As a kid, his first ever painted masked was of the Marvel Comics superhero. So, when he made it to Major Junior where custom paint jobs are commonplace, he paid homage.

The Spiderman mask, which he wore briefly with the Attack after coming over in a trade, featured the characters Venom and Carnage as well.

The new mask has Batman, Robin, the Joker and Harley Quinn, and if you look closely, a spotlight in the sky with the Attack’s logo silhouetted - a play on Batman’s famous call sign.

“Maybe it’s a little good luck charm from now on,” said Lafreniere.

Nick Suzuki must be feeling lucky.

Since being reunited with line mates Kevin Hancock and Jonah Gadjovich the trio has been playing big minutes against top competition, and fairing well.

Suzuki opened up the scoring against the Storm at 5:58 of the first period on a give-and-go play with Hancock.

The assist made it 11 points in 10 games for Hancock since returning from a hand injury on January 11.

Just over a minute later, following a Guelph delay of game penalty, the Attack’s Belarusian national Maksim Sushko scored his 23rd of the season.

The Attack came into the game three points behind the Storm in the Western Conference, and the Storm showed why in the second period.

Mark Wooley’s second of the year got the Storm on the board at 6:32, Tag Bertuzzi looked like he evened it up minutes later, the goal light went on, but the officials determined - after a review - the puck never crossed the goal line.

As the second period was winding down Aidan Dudas, who put on a show at the Sleeman Centre during the Top Prospects game, was at it again.

Dudas toe-dragged the puck around Wooley and dropped to one knee while wiring a shot into the top of the net.

Storm goaltender Anthony Popovich barely flinched before Dudas was into his celebration.

The two teams headed into the locker rooms at the second intermission with the Attack outshooting the Storm 31-19 and leading 3-1.

Maksim Sushko and Dudas combined for the Attack’s fourth goal of the game early in the third. The dynamic-duo played a little tic-tac-toe before Dudas capped it off, his second goal of the game and 23rd of the season.

Just as it looked like the Attack would roll on to victory, a shorthanded two-on-one featuring Dmitri Samorukov and Liam Hawel resulted in Hawel scoring his eighth of the year.

Isaac Ratcliffe’s 28th on the season cut the Attack’s three-goal lead to just one in the span of 41 seconds.

The Attack, willing the seconds off the clock as they bent under near-constant pressure from the Storm, gave up the lead with less than five minutes on the clock. Alexey Toropchenko’s ninth of the year tied the game.

Owen Sound giving up a third-period lead has happened before, more than a few times this season.

What happened next was a first.

The Attack’s 16-year-old rookie defender, Igor Chibrikov, forced into rare third-period minutes after an injury to Jacob Friend moments earlier, scored the game winner with 2:48 left on the clock.

The biggest goal of his young hockey career, and arguably the biggest goal of the Attack’s season to date, propelled the team to victory.

Hancock scored an empty netter to seal the win.

As a result, Owen Sound jumps ahead of the Windsor Spitfires and into seventh place in the Western Conference, one point back of the Storm for sixth.

Ethan Szypula played in his 300th game as a member of the Attack on Friday.

Barring injury, Szypula will finish the season second all-time in games played for the franchise.

Lafreniere stopped 25 of 29 shots while Popovich got in front of 36 of the Attack’s 41 chances.

The Attack return home on Saturday to take on the Midwest-leading Kitchener Rangers. It will be the eighth and final game of the season between the two division rivals. The Rangers have won four games out of seven, puck drop is 7:30 p.m. at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre.

Great character builder a HUGE game and everyone stepped up. IGOR way to put a stamp on the first goal arguably the biggest goal this season so far we couldn't give guelph a point if we want to pass them. 7 th place now and a big battle to keep it and maybe move up another one. Could be a tough one tonight if we only have 4 d.